After outburst on Twitter, Saina Nehwal’s father granted entry to CWG village

A day after Saina Nehwal complained about her father Harvir Singh’s name being missing from the team official category short-listed for accommodation in the 2018 Commonwealth Games Village, the Indian star shuttler could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has now granted Saina’s father access to the athletes’ village at the 2018 CWG in Gold Coast, Australia.

Confirming the news, Saina told ANI that she would like to thank the IOA and Sports Minister Rajyawardhan Rathore for helping her out in this accreditation issue. She also issued an apology “for all the trouble” she caused over the matter.

“I would like to thank IOA secretary Rajiv Mehta and team IOA for all the support and also Rajyawardhan Rathore Sir for helping me out with this accreditation issue. It is sorted and I would like to apologise if I have given any trouble to them,” Saina said.

Meanwhile, Saina also took to her Twitter account to acknowledge the effort put in by the IOA in resolving the issue in such a short span of time.

Earlier, Olympic medallist Saina wrote on Twitter that her father, who was confirmed as part of the Indian contingent travelling to Australia for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, was denied entry in the Gold Coast Games Village.

“Surprise to see that when we started from India for Commonwealth Games 2018 my father was confirmed as the team official and I paid the whole amount for that but when we came to the Games Village … his name was cut from team official category and he can’t even stay with me,” she had tweeted earlier.

Saina tagged the Commonwealth Games Federation to express her concern.

“He can’t see my matches and he can’t enter the village nor he can meet me in anyway .What kind of support is this ..@thecgf,” read another tweet.

In reply to Saina’s tweet, the IOA had explained why the badminton star’s father did not get access to the Games Village. It said that Harvir Singh is an “accredited extra official” who is not entitled to a bed in the athletes’ village.